Chapter 55 [The Unexpected Gray Pigeons, Sera...]
The next morning, when the waiter knocked on the door to ask if she needed breakfast, Mela ordered two pieces of bread and a cup of goat's milk, which cost a total of ten copper coins—more expensive than staying there for the night.
Mela brought in the plate with one hand, picked up a piece of bread and put it to her mouth. She took a bite, and it was as hard as a rock.
Fortunately, she had the foresight to ask for an extra cup of goat milk. Now she had to soak the bread in the goat milk to soften it, otherwise she might have chewed all her teeth off if she had tried to eat it by hand.
However, Mela did not expect that Silas would not return even after she finished her piece of bread and drank most of a cup of goat's milk.
Strange, this is not what Mela originally expected. She walked to the window and looked out at the street, which had become lively again.
All sorts of stalls stood under the colorful canopies, and merchants in horse-drawn carriages kept passing by, stopping in front of a stall and chatting skillfully with the owner.
Logically speaking, Silas should have been back by now.
What's holding it back?
*
In the early morning, just as dawn was breaking, Mela woke up first and also woke up Silas.
"Mera, I'm so sleepy..." Silas rubbed his eyes, stood up sleepily, and almost fell back into the pillow.
"Silas, wake up, I have something for you to do." Mela had no choice but to lift Silas up with both hands.
"What is it?" When he heard Mela tell him to do some work, Seras immediately shook his head vigorously, barely managing to clear his head.
"Go and search all the inns in this town and see if there are any carriages that are planning to leave Black Sheep Town today. Remember, it must be a carriage carrying goods."
“Wagons carrying goods?” Silas repeated, puzzled.
It's understandable that Mela wanted to ride in a carriage, since they couldn't possibly travel on foot anymore; otherwise, by the time Mela arrived at Erica's location, Erica's body might already be cold.
Silas didn't understand why Mela wanted to find a wagon carrying goods.
Could it be...?
"You want to steal a merchant's goods and guild certificate, then impersonate him and travel openly?"
“…Silas, aren’t you thinking too badly of me?” Mela was silent for a moment. She was a witch, not a robber. She wouldn’t do such a robbery unless absolutely necessary.
Mela simply wanted to find a small merchant and bribe him to take them on their journey.
For a small merchant with only one carriage, even if he transports goods back and forth between the two places all year round, he only earns hard-earned money. Therefore, as long as the price offered by Mela is high enough, he would probably not refuse to take one more person with him when he leaves.
Besides, if the other party is alone, it's easier for Mela to do whatever she wants to him.
“…You still say you don’t want to be a bad guy,” Silas muttered under his breath.
Listen to this, aren't they always ready to take action against others?
"..." Mela stared at Silas with a smile, "If I'm a bad guy, then you're the bad guy's pet who helps him do evil."
“Alright, let’s not waste any more time. We’d better leave here before noon today.” Mela stood up, walked to the window, and opened it to let Silas fly out.
Silas is really convenient now; a pigeon circling over town doesn't attract any attention at all, which is much better than Mela going out to find out for herself.
"But how am I supposed to know which carriages are planning to leave today?"
Silas had only flown away for a short while when he turned back.
"Simple, those carriages that were ready to leave early will be the first to be fed."
That's why Mela sent Silas out early to check the situation. Usually, after breakfast, this group of merchants who were already preparing to leave would drive their carriages out one after another.
If they had been a step slower, they might have missed it.
Silas understood, and a sense of urgency welled up in his heart. Without bothering to chat with Mela any longer, he flew off again without looking back.
Seeing Silas's energetic appearance, Mela slowly walked back to the bedside.
Unfortunately, this stingy tavern doesn't even provide an extra chair. If you don't want to stand all the time, you can only sit back on the bed.
*
"Knock knock knock".
Despite being across most of the corridor, the knocking reached Mela's room precisely.
Mela could even hear the waiter asking the guests through the door if they wanted to buy breakfast.
Among the options are sour rye bread, bread without bran, freshly squeezed goat milk, and a bowl of thick bean soup.
They don't even sound very appetizing.
So Mela only asked for two pieces of bread without bran and a cup of goat's milk, just enough to fill her stomach.
Mela swallowed the last bite of bread, while the other untouched piece on the plate was the one she had reserved for Silas.
I just don't know when Silas will be back.
Mela walked to the window, trying to find any small black dots similar to Silas's.
Then Silas suddenly burst in through the window, yelling, "Close the window! Close the window!"
Close the window?
Mela reacted a step too slowly, and then a second grayish thing flew in through the window.
She looked closely and was immediately surprised; it was a gray pigeon.
Judging from the fact that it is even larger than Silas after his transformation, it is undoubtedly a male pigeon.
But that's not what surprised Mela. What surprised her was the small carrier tube tied to its leg, even though it was a trained carrier pigeon.
“Uh…” Mela hesitated for a moment, then looked at Silas, “How did you manage to bring back the carrier pigeons that they specially bred?”
"Who said I kidnapped it? It was clearly chasing me for no reason!" Silas said, on the verge of tears.
Going back to the beginning, Silas didn't know what had happened either. It had simply followed Mela's instructions to go to the inn in town, landed on a nearby tree branch, and used its high vantage point to get a clear view of the situation in the stable.
Just as it was concentrating on memorizing, a gray pigeon fell from the sky and landed on the other side of the branch.
Silas initially ignored it, but then he saw the gray pigeon getting closer and closer, even spreading its wings—Silas was furious. Who doesn't have a pair of beautiful wings? Its feathers were as white as snow, while this gray pigeon was all gray and drab. How dare it show off in front of it?
Silas then spread his wings and flew up in front of the gray pigeon, taking the opportunity to show off his graceful figure and beautiful feathers.
However, it didn't forget the important matter Mela had given it. After showing off a little, it put away its desire to display and continued on to the next inn.
Unexpectedly, the gray pigeon chased after Silas like a madman, following him wherever he flew.
"What are you doing following me? Get away!" Silas flapped his wings, trying to drive it away.
However, it tilted its head, seemingly trying to decipher the meaning of the sounds Silas was making.
The next moment, it ignored Sylas's anger and continued to probe Sylas, almost making Sylas so angry that he fell backward.
Fortunately, by this time, Silas had already flown over all three inns in Black Sheep Town. It immediately sped up and rushed toward the tavern where Mela was staying, trying to shake off the annoying gray pigeon.
As for the result...
Mela divided the bread she had left for Silas in two, giving one half to the "guest" and the other half to Silas.
Silas took the bread, stared at the gray pigeon, and took a vicious bite out of it, as if that would intimidate it.
Unfortunately, the gray pigeon didn't understand Silas's expression. It only knew to push the bread that Mela had given it with its beak in front of Silas, and even cooed twice, as if it was trying to get Silas to eat it.
"Who wants to eat the bread you touched? Get away!" Silas reacted unusually strongly.
Mela sighed and rubbed her forehead, calling its name, "Silas, be kind. It's just a poor little gray pigeon that's temporarily fooled by your appearance and thinks you're a beautiful female pigeon."
Indeed, after hearing the whole story, Mela realized why the gray pigeon was chasing Silas.
The reason is simple: he was pursuing Silas like a female pigeon.
Just think about how infatuated Sylas was with Lily back then.
This gray pigeon is just too fascinated by Silas.
After all, Silas was created based on Miss Lily's appearance, so it's normal that he would be so captivated by a male pigeon that he would lose his bearings, right?
"How is it pitiful? I'm the one who's pitiful because I was inexplicably entangled with it!" Silas exploded upon hearing Mela's words.
There was a hint of grievance mixed with anger.
It didn't expect that Mela wouldn't stand by its side and would even sympathize with that stupid gray pigeon.
Silas became even more annoyed by the innocent posture the gray pigeon was putting on.
"Let's get rid of it quickly, so it doesn't delay our journey."
That's true, and Mela did intend to return the gray pigeon to its owner. After all, it was Silas who took the pigeon away, and as its owner, she had to help Silas clean up the mess so she could leave without any burden.
However, it is unknown whether the owner of the grey pigeon is still in Black Sheep Town. If he has already left, Mela is destined to waste a lot of time looking for him.
Meanwhile, in the largest inn in Black Sheep Town, a middle-aged man with a hurried expression knocked on a door.
In the fairly well-furnished room, a young man sat in a high-backed chair, dressed in clothes that looked expensive, clearly indicating his extraordinary background.
He stood with his arms crossed, and when he saw the man enter empty-handed, his impatience deepened. "Lonely, have you found my pigeon?"
“Young Master Kren, I have had my men search the area around the inn, but we haven’t found your pigeons.”
Thinking about what he was about to say, Looney couldn't help but lower his head and bend over, avoiding Kren's gaze.
"However, I must remind you that we should set off. According to the previous plan, we need to reach Golden Oak City in three days to deliver this shipment to Bishop Ebner. There is no time to delay any longer over a pigeon."
“But my pigeon is a homing pigeon that I trained from a young age. It would never leave me casually. It must have been captured by someone and is waiting for me to rescue it.” Kren stood up irritably.
His heels kept tapping on the ground as he walked back and forth in front of Looney.
Looney looked at the heels pacing back and forth right in front of him and couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in his mouth. He never expected that his originally set schedule would be delayed because of a pigeon.
But he didn't dare to really confront Kren head-on. He could only pray that the carrier pigeon Kren kept would fly back soon, and that they could successfully reach Golden Oak City in three days.
Ugh, this is such a headache! Why did something like this have to happen of all times?
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